MY PRAYER by Sel.

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 16, 1877

MY PRAYER.

By Sel.

I asked the Lord that I might worthier be, Might grow in faith and hope and charity; And straight, “Go, feed my lambs!” he answered me.

“Nay, Lord!” I cried. “Can outward deeds avail To cleanse my spirit? Heart and courage fail, And sins prevent, and foes and fears assail.”

And still, “Go, feed my lambs!” was all I heard. But should I rest upon that simple word? Was that, indeed, my message from my Lord?

Behold, I thought that he his hand would lay On my sick soul, and words of healing say, And charm the plague-spot from my heart away.

Half wroth, I turned to go; but, oh! the look He on me cast—a gaze I could not brook; With deep relentings all my spirit shook.

“O dearest Lord,” I cried, “I will obey, Say what thou wilt. Only lead thou the way: For following thee, my footsteps shall not stray.”

He took me at my word. He went before; He led me to the dwellings of the poor, Where wolf-eyed Want keeps watch beside the door.

He beckoned me, and I essayed to go Where Sin and Crime, more sad than Want and Woe, Hold carnival, and Vice walks to and fro.

And, when I faltered at the sight, he said, “Behold, I died for such. These hands have bled, This side for such has pierced been.” He said,

“Is the disciple greater than his Lord? The servant than his Master?” Oh, that word! It smote me like a sharp two-edged sword.

And since that hour, if any work of mine Has been accepted by my Lord as sign That I was following in his steps divine;

If serving others (though imperfectly), My own poor life has worthier come to be, And I have grown in faith and charity,

Dear Lord, be thine the glory. Thou hast wrought, All unaware, the blessing that I sought. Oh that these lips might praise thee as they ought! — Sel.